Monday, March 03, 2008

Game Day: Return to the left coast

It was all tears when the Sens last visited the Honda Center. The Ducks were more like boa constrictors, squeezing the life out of the Eastern Conference champs while a horrified fanbase looked on.

We're back with the same coach, but a different goaltender. Word is former Mighty Duck Marty tha G. will get the nod, although from his unspectacular performance against the Penguins (4 goals allowed, 0.86 sv%), we were expecting Emery would do this week's Pacific Division run. Maybe Murray just wanted to keep Ray away from press scrums in the wake of his ex-coach's parting shots.

What's on the line: Combined with a Montreal loss to the Sharks, the Sens could leapfrog the Habs, Devils and Penguins for tops in the east. A bad trip on the other hand could very well doom their playoff chances. Ducks have won 9 of their last ten and are on a five game win streak going into tonight's action.

Pronger is still out with an injured jaw (maybe he'll fill in as an assistant on the bench again?) although the Sens were still outmatched in Game 4 on home ice even with him out of the lineup.

Sens 5, Ducks 1 (Vermette, Spezza x2, Schubert, Fisher). Alfredsson blasts the puck into the crowd and knocks Snoop Dogg's beer out of his hands. Note that Earl Sleek will be at the game, so he won't respond to your taunts.